My first day of a short visit to Portland found me snacking at Clyde Common and sipping local Pinot while perusing the inspired wine list. I realize that I should be seizing the opportunity to drink as much wine from the nearby Willamette valley as I can handle, and this will hopefully come with a day trip tomorrow, but I couldn’t resist François Mikulski’s ’06 Bourgogne for $38.

François’ family is relatively new to Burgundy – his father fled Poland in ’39 and he was born in ’63. Domaine Mikulski, from the town of Meursault, was only created in ’92 after François studied viticulture in France and spent some time with Californian producers Calera and Littorai. This is his entry level red from Pinot Noir.

Sitting there and enjoying this wine with dinner made me a little depressed for my inevitable return to Vancouver. This is a simple, honest Pinot – fruity, a touch earthy with brilliant acidity – good wine from a tremendous producer. Its whole purpose is to be an accessible option to open up and put on the dinner table. What would this bottle cost if it was on a wine list in Vancouver? $70, maybe. No fault to the restaurants; with a much higher cost from government taxes, that would be low to standard markup. Who is that accessible for?

I’ve just read Anthony Gismondi’s article in the Vancouver Sun about exorbitant wine taxation in BC care of our friends in the provincial government (kudos to Anthony for continuing to make these points mainstream) and found this all pretty relevant. The kicker here is that, as customary in Oregon, this bottle of wine cost me $38 even… free of any sales tax.